A remembered fear TB Shabbat 60

Back when I was in fourth or fifth grade I took horseback riding lessons. I had to take a school bus to the riding ring and stables. On the way there we climbed a very steep long hill. The bus driver a long time before had some kind of accident on that hill when the children on the bus were making a lot of noise. Ever since then whenever he drove up that hill he made all of us sit quietly and absolutely still so the accident would never happen again.

Today’s daf TB Shabbat 60 describes how the rabbis effected a similar ban. The second Mishnah of this chapter describes what things a man may not go out with on Shabbat. The first thing listed was a spiked sandal or what we would describe as a sandal with cleats. The Gemara list three incidents when spike sandals caused a tragedy. These incidents occurred after the Bar Kochba revolt, the second revolt against Rome, which lasted from 132-135 CE. Even though the Jews lost the war they inflicted heavy losses to the Roman legion. Cassius Dio wrote: "Many Romans, moreover, perished in this war. Therefore, Hadrian, in writing to the Senate, did not employ the opening phrase commonly affected by the emperors: 'If you and your children are in health, it is well; I and the army are in health.'" To ensure there wouldn’t be a third revolt, Hadrian enacted laws prohibiting the observance of Judaism, forbidding Jews from entering Jerusalem except on Tisha B’Av, and exiled many Judeans. With this background you can appreciate the terror that the spike sandals reminded the Jewish people of.

“Shmuel said: They were those who eluded the decrees of religious persecution, and after one of the wars they were hiding in a cave. And those hiding said: One who seeks to enter the cave may enter, but one who seeks to leave the cave may not leave. One leaving has no way to determine whether or not the enemy is lying in wait outside the cave. Therefore, leaving could reveal the presence of those hiding in the cave.

“It happened that the sandal of one of them was reversed, the front of the sandal was in the back, and his footprints appeared like the steps of one leaving the cave. They thought that one of them left and feared that their enemies saw him and were now coming upon them to attack. In their panic, they pushed one another and killed one another in greater numbers than their enemies had killed among them. To commemorate this disaster that resulted from a spiked sandal, they prohibited going out into the public domain with it.

“Rabbi Elai ben Elazar says that the reason for the decree was different. Once they were sitting in a cave and heard the sound of a spiked sandal atop the cave. They thought that their enemies had come upon them. They pushed one another and killed one another in greater numbers than their enemies had killed among them.

“Rami bar Yeḥezkel said that the reason for the decree was different. They were sitting in a synagogue and they heard the sound of a spiked sandal from behind the synagogue. They thought that their enemies had come upon them. They pushed one another, and killed one another in greater numbers than their enemies had killed among them.

“To commemorate that disaster which occurred due to a spiked sandal, at that time they said: A person may not go out with a spiked sandal.” (Sefaria.com translation)

The Jerusalem Talmud gives another reason why the Rabbis banned spiked sandals on Shabbat. Pregnant women would remember during the time of religious persecution that the noise the spike sandals cause pregnant women to have spontaneous abortions. This remembered fear would cause them to have spontaneous abortions too.

The Gemara goes onto great detail about the spiked sandals, but this rabbinic prohibition no longer exists because these kind of sandals have not been worn for close to two millennia.